Dad's Farm

Our farm has a large gravel pit on it. It has been relatively dormant - gravel wise - but it has flourished in terms of wildlife. After Thorson hauled the bulk of the gravel out (first for highway 32 in 1988 and then for county road 49 in 1992) the pit has been pretty quiet, so flocks of geese have moved in and now call it home. Dad and Mom were quite protective of them, in fact. Often hunters would ask Dad for permission, but he never let anyone set foot on his land.

So now that he is gone, I often worry about hunters stopping out there. But Dad was well respected and quite loved (no one has even attempted to force a door on the house or any of the sheds - though they are right on highway 32 and only half a mile from highway 2) that no one ventures out there. So the geese are safe.

Now too that Dad is gone, I hope the muskrats return. Dad didn't want them bothering his geese, so he shot them. As a total pacifist (well, except for mosquitoes and deer that careen off my car), I'm pulling for the mustrats' return.

Here is a shot of the pit from the front.



And from the back.



I was even able to get a shot of a goose (you'll have to click on the picture to enlarge it to see the goose I believe).



Initially, I swam in the pit quite often - the sand was great and the water wasn't deep enough to be really cold (though in some spots it was over 20 feet deep). But as the activity in the pit tapered off, the more the weeds and algae moved in. Now I wouldn't swim in it at all. Though two summers ago they drained a good portion of it and the water was great again. In fact, we went out there once for the Fourth of July. It was getting late and the mosquitoes were absoutely hellacious, so we left our chairs out side and headed for the car. The next day I went to retrieve them and found them blown out into the pit. I dove in to get them and when I lifted one out of the water, the largest leech I have ever seen plopped out and fell into the water - at my feet! Initially I thought it was just a large soggy leaf (that gives you an idea of how large it was), but once the 'leaf' hit the water it began to wriggle quickly through the water. I was safely on the beach by that time - and likely screaming like a ninny - but I was safe. Since then I've been careful about setting foot in the pit.